ILi^75. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



tirst time, and then ivvltsc, to avoid crushiiiij: 

 the comb into the; \viro cloth by tlio ijrcat ccn- 

 tritugal Ibrcc result iiiij: trom such a weight at 

 a rapid spc<Hl. 



DIKIX TIONS ]•<)« rslN<i Till-; DOI.LAU 1UVH>*. 



If the liive is receive<l in a bundle, of course 

 the llrst tliinj; to do is to uail it up. Use tlie 

 long nails to go through the whole thickness, 

 nn<i the short ones where the wood is rabbeted 

 away ; <irivc tlic nails as near each other lu-; 

 you can witliout having them touch. Nail the 

 i'orners well. The cover when tinished is much 

 like the cover oia trunk. When a single hive 

 is ordered some kind of a broad board is to be 

 provided for a lxj»ttom lx)ard, but when the I 

 hive is used as us a two story liive — two hives, 

 ■one over the other make a two story hive — 

 there is a si)are cover, and we use tius as a | 

 Jjottom lx)ard. To enlarge the entrance we 

 simply pusli the hive forward so that it pro- i 

 jects a little over the bottom board, and if w^e ! 

 wish to make the entrance very small, we cut i 

 out a little of tlie inside lower edgi' of the front j 

 I'lid l3oard in tl>e middle. In case you have i 

 purchased frames and (juilt also, with the hive ! 

 — none are furnished for sjnI.OO — the frames are i 

 to be spaced by the eye as close as may be j 

 convenient, and then the quilt very carefully i 

 pressed down iu such a manner that not a sin- | 

 ^le bee can by any possibility get above it. 

 This seems quite a task, especially when the i 

 frames are only t^ inch lower than the top of 

 the side of the hive, but after the bees have 

 once waxed it in place, as they will in a few 

 days, it is quickly and easily replaced. 



THE .STANDARD HIVE, 



is to be putwt'igether and used much in the 

 «ame way, but as there is a permanent Ijottom 

 and no upi^er story, it may be regarded as a 

 simpler hive to manage in all localities where 

 out door Aviutcring is considered safe. 



J^lIRECTIONS FOK USING THE UNIVERSAL FEEDER. 



Cut oft" the liar of wood until it is just long 

 •enough to hang in the rabbets of your hive 

 Just as the frames do. Put the brood pretty 

 well to the south side of the hive, and the feed- 

 er on the north side, if it is at a time of the year 

 when they will be likely to build comb under- 

 neath it, in July, Aug. and Sept., for instance. 

 Jtemove one frame, and after takirg some 

 intins to make the (juilt tiu'n down closely to 

 the next remaining one, put the .eeder down 

 between it and the side of the hive in such a 

 way that no bees can get up under the cover. 

 "When you haAe got it all tight, and so the cov- 

 er will open and shut nicely, you ai'e all ready 

 for the "fted". Now we have made many ex- 

 periments prijving that there is not the least 

 necessity of making your syrup by any formu- 

 la, or of adding anything iu the world to the 

 sugar, but water, either hot or cold, as may be 

 most convenient. If you onlj' want to feed one 

 or two coloni'-s, put the sugar in your coffee- 

 pot, pour on some water, stir it with a stick, 

 and you are all ready. If you feed them simp- 

 ly sweetened water, or till the bag with dry su- 

 gar and dampen it with water, it is all the same 

 to the bees, and if the weather is warm you'll 

 soon have amjile evidence that they are profit- 

 ing bj- it. 



The only time wheu we have been inclined 

 to feel that the name of this feeder might be a 



misnomer, is in the spring with a small colony 

 of bees. In sucli a case you must get your 

 feed( r up close to the brood, and much tlu' 

 best way to do this is to contiact the «ize (jf 

 the hive with a division Ijoard. If you wish 

 to make more feeders, you must use cloth like 

 the sample we send you or you will have 

 trouble. 



Where you have a considerable number of 

 colonies to feed, you had better put your sugar 

 into your extractor, pour on some water and 

 give it a few whirls, and you will have beauti- 

 ful syrup in a very few minutes, all ready to 

 l)e drawn ofl' at the gate into your cott'ee-pot. 

 Just as handy as can be. 



If robbers are at all inclined to be trouble- 

 some, you had better do your feeding between 

 sun-down and dark; with these feeders one 

 person can feed 50 colonies in 10 minutes. 



DIKK('TU)NS FOR USING OUR Ql'EEN ( .ViJKS. 



The end apartments are for the feed, and the 

 central one for the bees and Queen. The feed 

 may be pieces of comb honey, or a sponge filled 

 with honey; the comb we rather prefer, for if 

 the boxes be well filled, it will sustain 20 bees 

 and a Queen for a period of two weeks or 

 more. AVheu a Queen is to be introduced, 

 place the whole under the quilt directlj- over 

 the cluster, and if you wish to run little risk, 

 leave them there 4H hours — of course we mean 

 a Queenless hive — then with a very little smoke 

 drive the bees away and slide the cover entire- 

 ly ort". If they come up to her i>eaceal)ly, all is 

 well ; if they pounce upon her with apparently 

 murderous intentions, drive them away with 

 the smoke, and cage her another day. This 

 cage has been purposely arranged so that you 

 can promptly rescue a Queen before they have 

 time to do her injury. With some colonies of 

 black bees, or very dark hybrids, it seems al- 

 most impossible to get them to accept a Queen, 

 especially during the fall of the j'car, or at any 

 time after the honey season has failed, and the 

 best advice we can give for such cases is to 

 put on a Universal feeder and give them a good 

 feed at the time of introducing the Queen. 

 Almost any colony can be brought to good be- 

 havior by persevering in this plan of feetling. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE LARV.\E WHICH WE 

 SEND BY MAIL FOR QUEEN RAISING. 



It may be as well to tell you frankly that a 

 temperature of between 50 and 00 degrees will 

 destroy its vitality, antl that if any very cold 

 iiiglits have occurred during time of transit, it 

 will be of very little use for you to waste time 

 with it ; also, if it has been more than three 

 days on the route, it is probably all dead. 



The first thing to be done with it is to get it 

 where the bees will feed it. If you have a 

 Queenless colony, insert it in the centre of the 

 cluster in one of the combs; if you have none 

 such, move a colony away while the bees are 

 flying, or remove several coml)s covered with 

 bees from a populous colony, being careful that 

 you take none containing brood, or the old 

 Queen. If the eggs are good, you should get 

 8 or 10 cells on an average from such a piece 

 as we send. We have (juite a number among 

 our readers who have comi)letely Italianized 

 their Apiaries by these 25 cent pieces of brood. 

 If the nights are very cool, w^e often delay senil- 

 ing until they are warmer. Send us addressed 

 postal if youwish to be advised of shipment. 



